... it is hard to expect an author to say anything new — especially when the book was written before the impeachment drama started. Perhaps the best one can hope for is something that helps put this craziness in perspective and lays out the stakes for the future ... Trump and His Generals meets the test...Bergen provides a deeply informed study, written with clarity and flair. Reflecting fresh research and nearly 100 interviews with some key players, his retelling of Trump’s foreign policy skillfully synthesizes what’s already known and adds gossipy tidbits. Although it doesn’t change the fundamental story line and may not create the breaking news one hoped for, it is the best single account of Trump’s foreign policy to date ... raises important questions for the future of civil-military relations. Do we want it to become routine for military leaders to ignore requests by a president and other civilian leaders? Would we feel the same way if this was how a future president — say, Elizabeth Warren or Nikki Haley — were treated? If it is okay, then under what circumstances? Bergen doesn’t say, and one wonders what he thinks.
One should be grateful to Bergen, even though none of the stories are fundamentally new ... raises, even if it does not address deeply, some important questions about the outlandish and sordid tale ... an unenchanted view of generals, as of other human beings, tells us that ambition, wishful thinking and unfounded self-confidence can afflict any of us.
.. timely ... insightful ... Through meticulously documented interviews and research, the author amply shows how the Trump administration has stubbornly stuck with this free-wheeling playbook of slash and burn ... More hard-hitting, abundant documentation of a woefully incapable president’s litany of failures.
